Our annual banquet will be held on December 2nd
at Windham Memorial Hospital.The
dining room is just to the right after you pass through the main
entrance.The dinner will be buffet style, with primary
courses of roast beef and stuffed chicken breasts.Also included are vegetables, beverages, etc.The cost of the banquet is only $15.00 per person.At this price you can hardly afford to stay home.In addition to a great dinner, we will have Jack
Swanberg, retired Lead Trainmaster of the Metro North Railroad, world
traveler, rail photographer and author of “New Haven Power” as our
guest speaker.Whether you
are looking in books, magazines or historical journals, you are sure to
find some rail-related photos by Jack.His photographs are legendary, so be sure to attend.

Please return the coupon below with your payment.The deadline is November 25th.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Banquet
Reservation Form

#
attending @ $15.00 each _____________

Total Payment_________

Name:________________________________

Address:______________________________

City,
State, Zip:_________________________

Telephone:____________________________

Museum Operating Schedule

As we wind down our visitor operations for the
year, it is time to reflect on what has happened during the past summer. We
have been officially open on Saturdays since May between 9 AM and 2 PM.In most cases someone has been around until 3 PM or 4 PM.Most days, we have had between 5 and 20 visitors, all of whom
were very impressed with our progress.Many people also showed up on Sunday and were shown around when
someone was at the Museum. Numerous people also showed up during the
walking weekend and toured the museum.

We were offered a table at the recent Train
Exchange show and many people had never heard of the museum.Other comments ranged from: “When are you going to have
rides?” to “I drove down there and the museum was closed.”

It is time to start making plans for next
year.Some things to think
about are:

ØHow can the Museum be publicized more effectively?

ØWill we have enough track to give rides?

ØCan we stay open longer on Saturdays?

ØCan we get volunteers to open up on Sundays?

ØCan we make up displays to attract visitors and make it
interesting enough for them to return?

ØCan we get more members to act as tour guides or work on
restoration projects?

Do you have any ideas or suggestions?

Contact any of our officers and help out if you
can.

Speaking
About the Museum

For years, we have talked about the museum as “the
site.”While most members
know what we are talking about, visitors do not.A suggestion was made at the train show that we begin to refer to
“the site” as “the museum.”This is a good idea.While
up until recently, there wasn’t much at the museum except for the
site, the roundhouse and other historic buildings are quickly becoming a
museum.When talking about
the museum, please try to use the words “the museum.”It is more descriptive and appropriate.

Donations

Richard Hanschka recently donated a B&M Home
Signal used in Springfield, MA by the Montrealer, and New Haven signals
and lenses to the museum.

Railbus
Publicity

A Hartford Courant reporter and photographer were
at the museum on November 4th to observe the operation of our
Maine Central railbus. It worked fine and they took a lot of pictures.On Sunday, November 5th, the Courant had
a feature article on page 1 of Section B, with an 8”x5” picture and
a 21 column-inch article about the railbus and the museum.

In Memoriam

We were saddened to learn that Joseph Snopek, 57,
of Granby, MA died suddenly on Saturday, November 4.Joe had been a speaker at the Chapter and was a co-author, with
Bob LaMay, of “Diesels to Park Avenue – The FL-9 Story.”Our sympathy is extended to his family.

Trains, Tracks & Trimmings

The Connecticut River Museum is presenting their
2000 exhibit by Steve Cryan.The
exhibit features an operating HO scale layout, Tug Boat Alley, a scale
model of the Essex Steamboat Dock, Flying Boats and China Clippers, and
World War II boats and planes.The
museum is located at the end of Main Street in Essex.The exhibit runs from November 24, 2000 to February 25, 2001.

Our Web Site Has Moved

The new address for our web site is http://www.cteastrrmuseum.org.
Bill
Robinson has agreed to serve as the new webmaster and will be
responsible for updating our web site.This address should be a lot easier to remember, but for the time
being, there will be a link from our prior web address.There are still a few bugs that have to be worked out, but
hopefully everything will be up to speed shortly.

Calendar
of Upcoming Events

Nov

11- NHRTHA show & banquet

19- Monthly meeting

Speaker: Paul Reistrup

Dec

2- CERM annual banquet

Program by Jack Swanberg

3- Business Meeting

17- Monthly meeting

Jan

7- Business meeting

November Speaker - Paul Reistrup

The speaker at our November 19th meeting
will be Paul H Reistrup, Vice-President for Passenger Integration for
CSX Transportation.His
topic will cover our favorite subject – railroads and trains.

Vandalism

Periodically we have had incidents of vandalism and
we were hit again on the weekend of October 14th & 15th.Unknown persons broke into the compound, the 25-tonner, the Alco
S4, and the former New Haven coaches.The vandals also stole anything loose that they could get their
hands on.While the damage
was not extensive, it causes money to be diverted from our normal
restoration efforts.All of the vandalism took place outside the fenced
museum.We are now ready to
begin laying track so that we can get our equipment behind the fence.While this may not end the vandalism, hopefully it will cut back
on it.We look forward to seeing anyone who can help on this
project or any of our other projects.

Election
of Officers

The nominating committee, consisting of Bill
Robinson (Chairman), Art Hall, and Bill Mihancki proposed the following
slate of officers for the coming year:

President– Joseph Cerrett

Vice-President– Mark Granville

Secretary– William Nickerson

Treasurer
- Jeff Laverty

National Director– Arthur Schnabel

As there were no nominations from the floor, the
recommended slate was elected.

What’s
New at the Museum

The operator’s shanty, previously thought to be a
crossing shanty, has arrived at the museum.It is currently undergoing repairs and restoration.

The stone veneer has been cemented around the
foundation of the Chaplin Station.

The dirt pile between the Section House and Chaplin
Station has disappeared and the surrounding ground level has been raised
to near its permanent level.

The railbus was taken out for a trial run on
October 14th and ran fine.Although there are still a few things to complete, the major
portion of the restoration has been completed.

The switch from the Hartford line into the museum
has been largely completed, the track has been leveled, and the ballast
has been tamped. Ballast and ties have been extended about 30 feet towards the Chaplin Station.The roadbed has also been graded back approximately 125 feet.

Trenches have been dug for the electrical
conduit to the Section House, Chaplin Station, Groton Freight House, and
the roundhouse.

2001 CT Eastern Calendars

The 2001 calendars are now available.The price is only $4.00.If
you know of any possible distribution locations, take some calendars to
them.See Jeff Laverty or
Ray Axelrod for additional information or to obtain some of the
calendars.